Civil Aviation ministry to soon announce new norms for ticket

The Civil Aviation Ministry is likely to announce soon new norms for ticket cancellation, baggage and denied boarding, amid the increasing number of complaints on these issues.

The move also comes after domestic air passengers' body Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) had written to the civil aviation ministry and aviation regulator DGCA to address these issues including adequate compensation to fliers in the eventuality of their flight getting cancelled or delayed.

At present a passengers gets between Rs 2,000-4,00 depending upon the duration of the delay.

In the case of denied boarding also, the compensation ranges in the same amount, "We are revisiting regulations concerning these issues," a senior official said.

The revamped norms are expected to be made public soon, the official added.

Significantly, after domestic airlines including the largest airline by market share IndiGo and Government-run Air India hiked its cancellation charges, Directorate General of Civil Aviation had sought an explanation from the carriers over the issue.

"We have been trying to compare (ticket cancellation charges) with international trends and like that... It (analysis of cancellation charges) will take more time," DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy had said last month.

Budget carrier IndiGo had in April done away with the slab system for charging ticket cancellation fee and made it uniform at Rs 2,250. National carrier Air India too had in February effected a hike of Rs 500 for cancelling its flight tickets, which now stands at Rs 2,000 per ticket.

"We certainly welcome the (proposed) move. But at the same time we want a fool proof system in place. If a passengers misses his connecting flight he should also be compensated," D Sudhakara Reddy of APAI said.

According to DGCA, more than two-thirds of the airline flights in April were cancelled due to technical and operational reasons.

Also, a total of 46,833 passengers were affected due to the flight cancellations, delays and denied boarding, involving a compensation of Rs 1.33 crore during April this year.